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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Hello! If you haven't been to Fabric Tuesday before or participated, it's never too late! There are more "rules" below, but basically we share a recent/current project that somehow involves glorious FABRIC!

First of all, let me apologize. I only commented on about half of last weeks links :( We try to do a really good job on that, so I'm terribly sorry I dropped that ball!! I did, however, see them all and they were fabulous :) What I usually do is see each one as they link up, and then I go back later and take my time to read the post and comment...but ya'll know how Thanksgiving goes. Last minute trips. So full you have to roll from room to room. Family fights (oh yes we had some!! But not between Heather and I...don't you fret. :) Alas, I didn't finish commenting. Boo. And now it's Fabric Tuesday again! Yay!

PS How did your holiday weekend go??

And we're back to featuring YOU!

I picked a few of my favorites from last week, and here they are:

Kirie's Pink Clutch from Shape Mothum love...we already asked for it for Christmas

Brooke's Pillow Swap from Pitter Putter StitchIf you didn't see this post you have to...there is a darling embroidery on the back and it involves a baby elephant. Go.

QuiltyGirl's Christmas Napkins from The Girl Who QuiltsJust so cute and festive. Plus...Heather and I are extremely impressed with anyone who completes a holiday project prior to the holiday. :)

To those of you featured, send us an email and we'll get you a "Featured on QuiltStory" button

myquiltstory{at}gmail{dot}com

Now on to...FABRIC TUESDAY

Link up a recent craft project that uses fabric...if you're new don't be shy! This is for everyone. Click the button to add your link at the bottom and link up a recent blog post where you used fabric to create or enhance something.Below are a few "rules" to play.

Mention us in your post with either a link or make it easy and add the button to your blog sidebar and you won't have to remember each week. ***You can take either our blog or our Fabric Tuesday buttons on the sidebar.***

You don't have to do this to link up, promise. However if you want to follow us, we follow back :) But please comment telling us you did so and we will hop right on over and make sure we're following too!

And how about we each take time to comment on the link just before yours, that's easy enough right? We'd love for this to be a linky party where everyone gets comments, so if you take the time to look, take a second to leave a comment!

Monday, November 29, 2010

AnneMarie from Gen X Quilters made this super cute Elephant quilt for a friend's baby. It is a sweet story be sure to read. Also, make sure to check our her site, because she has some fun projects going on for the modern quilters!

Each quilt we complete becomes our favorite for a short period of time... but this one, called Elephant Parade, will continue to be on my list because it has a special story.

My husband has worked for a Japanese company for 9 years, and it wasn't until a couple months ago, we finally had our first Japanese guests over for dinner. They were expecting their first child and had some questions for us.

Sure! No problem, I thought... we'd been through it twice after all? It wasn't until they arrived and we started really getting to know each other that I realized how difficult it would be to have your first child in a country that wasn't your own. I remember how difficult it was to be a first-time parent - and the over-whelming feeling I had walking into Babies'R'Us for the first time. Now imagine doing this thousands of miles from home and trying to understand everything-baby in a different language. My heart really went out to them.

﻿So, of course, after they left, I decided I HAD to make them a quilt. I sketched out a couple different versions of this before finally settling here. I used 2 fabrics from Robert Kaufman's Urban Circus with Kona Turquois and Kona Orange. Although I am still trying to figure out free motion, I managed to do a little echo around the elephant applique in the center (which I think looks awesome if I do say so myself!).

Their son is the cutest little guy and has two gracious and loving parents to guide him throughout his life. I hope this little quilt will keep him cuddled nice and warm even after our friends return to Japan.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Becky from Becky's Blabber has a cute story of a quilt that took 19 years to finish! I am impressed with that! See we should keep all those projects in our closets, we may get back to them in 19 years!

My first quilt... completed 19 years later

My
husband and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday, on 10-10-10! As
a gift to him, I decided to finally finish a quilt that I started for him 19
years ago. It's the first quilt I'd ever made, and I dove into it knowing almost
nothing about quilting. It would be 10 years later that I got introduced to
rotary cutters, quilt stores, batting and binding. It remained unfinished mainly
because after making the top, I didn't know how to bring the back, top and
batting all together. I was also not too entirely happy with the result (just
LOOK at that orange!), and I still wanted to make it bigger with
borders.

So it remained tucked inside my fabric stash, moving from
apartment to apartment, house to house. As I later learned more and more about
quilting I became concerned about the open button holes, and as my quilting
skills progressed this first quilt looked so homely and clumsy. But the
sentiment behind it remained the same... a labor of love, made for a special
person in my life.

My husband knew about it. He'd seen it move from place
to place. Last week, as I pinned it all together, I hoped it would be a surprise
gift. As usual, though, it took longer to quilt than I'd figured. I had to drag
it out over the week-end in order to finish it on time. The look on his face
when he saw me working on it was priceless! He, of all people, knows just how
much time I spend quilting a single quilt.

When I first met him, he was a
forester who's unofficial "uniform" was plaid flannel shirts. I love rainbows,
so I went to the local Goodwill store and found as many colorful shirts as I
could to make the quilt. I ended up buying some of the flannel at the fabric
store, but could only find the solid blaze orange no matter how hard I looked. I
thought it would be neat to leave the pockets and buttons on, and did. I bought
a sheet for the back, and cut out the strips with scissors. I probably broke all
of the "rules" of quilting all in this one quilt.

In order to finish it,
I decided to forget the borders, keep it exactly the way it was, leave the
button holes the way they were, use the sheet I still had for the back, and just
do it. I started trying to stipple quilt it free-motion on my machine, but after
a broken needle and some frustration, I decided to ditch that plan too, and just
use my walking foot to make a grid pattern. To make things even easier, I just
trimmed the back an inch all around the quilt, and brought it around to the top
and sewed it to the front as a "mock binding". Quick, easy, cheap. And it's
done!

Sometimes
I think all the designer fabric, chic patterns and the long arm finishing does
more to impede my quilting process than to help it. I want my quilts to be just
like the beautiful ones in the quilt stores, shows, and blogs... But every time
I see this once-closeted quilt I'll remember the couple who rented small
apartments furnished with second-hand goods, and the time when I bought my
quilting fabric from thrift stores. I'll also be reminded of how far I have come
in my hobby. More importantly, I'll remember our new romance 19 years ago, and
the true reason I love quilting. For me it's a way to show my love to family and
friends.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Look at these fabrics!!! Complete gorgeousness! In love a lot! Megan and I get a serious high when it comes to fabric. We know we are not alone all our fabric loving friends!

This fabric comes from our new sponsor Poppy Seed Fabrics. Kim carries loads and loads of fabrics and has a 100% positive feedback rating. Also, check out her darling blog here, tons of projects made up with fabrics she sells.

PS THIS FRIDAY SHE IS HAVING A BLACK FRIDAY 10% OFF SALE!JUST USE COUPON CODE BLACKFRIDAY10 DURING CHECKOUT!

She wraps is up all cute and sends your order to your door quickly!

And yes, that is snow. COLD here! Rumor has it that it is supposed to be only 14 degrees on Wednesday! Seriously what is up with that??? I need to move down to live with Megan in Arizona for the winter. If it were not for these 5 little tiny humans that need me on a daily basis, I would do it in a heartbeat, I know Megan would have me!

Without further ado...FABRIC TUESDAY

Link up a recent craft project that uses fabric...if you're new don't be shy! This is for everyone. Click the button to add your link at the bottom and link up a recent blog post where you used fabric to create or enhance something.Below are a few "rules" to play.

Mention us in your post with either a link or make it easy and add the button to your blog sidebar and you won't have to remember each week. ***You can take either our blog or our Fabric Tuesday buttons on the sidebar.***

You don't have to do this to link up, promise. However if you want to follow us, we follow back :) But please comment telling us you did so and we will hop right on over and make sure we're following too!

And how about we each take time to comment on the link just before yours, that's easy enough right? We'd love for this to be a linky party where everyone gets comments, so if you take the time to look, take a second to leave a comment!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Heather and I always love checking out Fabric Tuesday links getting inspired by all of you! A few weeks back Cara from Me? A Mom? Had a beautiful almost finished quilt, so we made her promise to send it our way when it was all the way done!! And not only that...she's turned it into a quilt-a-long for all of us lucky girls (and one boy? two?). Here's Cara:

I'm just starting a quilt along and tutorial of the pattern Urban Lattice on my blog I think it's going to a lot of fun!

This quilt was made for my husband who has long wanted a "manly" quilt that was all his. Not only was it to be masculine looking but he also wanted it to be a really large lap size. His only request was that it have lots of blue.

I went round and round trying to decide what pattern to use.

Then, after doing a baby-sized string quilt for my daughter -- and loving the paper piecing process -- I decided to think about ways I could modify a string quilt block.

The result was a design I call "Urban Lattice." I love the simple geometric nature of the design and so does my husband.

The finished size is 72 x 84 -- the largest I've ever made before by FAR. I machine quilted the entire thing myself and thought at times my lil' ol' basic Janome might start smoking What a workout! I cursed. I laughed. I got charlie horses in my shoulders. But it was all worth it.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Ann from a girl in paradise submitted this darling quilt made of her son's clothes. I so need to do one of these! Ann has some cute projects going on on her site, so make sure to visit her blog. Thanks Ann...

Like most moms I have a bin of my favorite outfits my son wore when he was a baby. A bin that I couldn’t seem to part with. So, I turned them into a quilt. A quilt to pass down to him. A quilt made up of the outfit he came home from the hospital in. the outfit he wore to his first birthday party, and the outfits he received as gifts when he was born. All of them memories. Memories of time when mother bonds with her son. The cute little footed sleepers he wore on those countless sleepless nights or those shirts stained with strained peas and carrots.

I didn’t have a clear pattern or direction for this quilt when I started working on last summer. I first separated out my favorite outfits that had a top and a bottom, then I set them into off centered blocks. I really like how these turned out. It gave me the freedom not to be limited to a certain size square when cutting out the shirts. This was important because the outfits ranged in size from 0-3 months to 2T. Next I cut 6” squares to set in between the rows of off centered blocks. At this point I started to lay things out to decide how the quilt was to be arranged. I decided to sash the rows with navy blue and give it a border, but I still had a lot of fabric and outfits that were not yet used in the quilt. That is when I decided it also need a border of the scraps. When the top was done I took the larger scraps and his receiving blankets and pieced the back. I also included a block with an inscription for my son.

This quilt was definitely a labor of love. I so enjoyed working on this quilt that when it was finished it made me a little sad…another chapter ending, and another chapter beginning. Next, I will have to start a bin of things he wore playing sports, school sprit shirts, or maybe even cub scouts. Whatever the future holds for my son on his journey through life.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Hi everyone, Jessica here from the twinfibers blog! Thanks so much for joining me today as Heather and Megan and I are blog hopping today.﻿

My sister, Jennifer and I started our blog a few years ago to share what we create and we've been having lots of fun quilting and sewing. I'm the one on the right in the picture above and Jennifer is on the left. Today, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite sewing projects and a little bit about them. I hope you enjoy!

This is the first quilt that I finished. Heather Bailey really started my love for fabrics and quilting with her Freshcut collection. It really was a big quilt to make for my first project, but it's one of those quilts that still gets used every fall. It seems to get softer and more comfortable with age! I remember trying to read online as much as I could about quilting and how to make a quilt. I found a video on YouTube that showed you how to baste a quilt. I ended up basting this one with thread and rolling it up on a long board to keep everything straight. It's a bit different than how I do things today, but the quilt did turn out really nice and it was really easy to quilt it that way.

Another thing I love to do is join in different swapping groups! Here's one of the quilts that I made for a doll quilt swap. The pattern is called Shoo Fly and I really like it because it introduced me to an improv style of piecing. I didn't have to measure out each corner triangle... you just stitch it on and see what happens. I like it because there is still some distinct pattern and order to the quilt, but it has some movement with the varying sizes of the corner triangle pieces.

This is a quilt that I made for the { Urban } Home Goods Swap and it just may be my favorite quilt so far. One of my favorite designers is Orla Kiely and this little quilt is inspired by her flower motifs and sense of order and repetition in her artwork.

It was also my first try at hand quilting a quilt. I love the look and how it turned out, so I'm sure that I'll give it another try on a future quilt. For me, that's what's great about these swap groups. It gives me a chance to try out a new technique or idea on a small project and I get to make someone else happy with something made especially for them.

This quilt is one of my newest favorites. I challenged Jennifer to make something out of a fat quarter of each of Sandi Henderson's Henna Garden fabric print and this is the quilt that I made. You can read more about it here, but it was a fun project to do and see what each of us could come up with. This is the quilt that currently lives on the couch... the flannel backing makes it so soft and warm and it's perfect for these chilly fall evenings we're experiencing.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking a lot about Christmas and the gifts I would like to make. I don't know if it is the holiday music playing on several radio stations or the little counter on e-bay telling me how many days after left before Christmas, but I'm starting to realize that my time flies and I need to get started now! The quilt top above is one of those gifts that got started this past week and may actually get finished before it needs to be delivered. Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope that you'll visit me over at twinfibers soon! A big thanks to Heather and Megan for blog hopping with me today, too! You have a great blog here and I always enjoy my visit on your site. ~Jessica

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Where we share all things we made (or made better) with fabric! Please join in!

This week I want to introduce you to a new sponsor. You may have seen her cute button hanging out over there.

Fabric Shoppe

Jody runs this great shop, Fabric Shoppe on etsy. Now let me tell you...I sought out Jody. I saw her amazingly adorable collection of fabrics and I was hooked! Here's what you need to know about her and her cute shop.

Link up a recent craft project that uses fabric...if you're new don't be shy! This is for everyone. Click the button to add your link at the bottom and link up a recent blog post where you used fabric to create or enhance something.Below are a few "rules" to play.

Mention us in your post with either a link or make it easy and add the button to your blog sidebar and you won't have to remember each week. ***You can take either our blog or our Fabric Tuesday buttons on the sidebar.***

You don't have to do this to link up, promise. However if you want to follow us, we follow back :) But please comment telling us you did so and we will hop right on over and make sure we're following too!

And how about we each take time to comment on the link just before yours, that's easy enough right? We'd love for this to be a linky party where everyone gets comments, so if you take the time to look, take a second to leave a comment!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Heidi from her cute Handmade by Heidi blog made this darling quilt for her friends baby. This is a sweet story of friendship and love. Heidi has loads of fun stuff on her blog. One super fun thing she does is a Friday Night Sew in, where everyone can link up their Friday night projects. I think I am going to be joining that party! Thanks Heidi...

" Have you ever made a friend at work? A friend that you always know you will keep in touch with? Well, I have one of those friends - her name is Katherine. She's funny and dramatic and always made me laugh.

Her and I happen to be the same age.. just a few weeks apart. Now I must admit - when she told me her and her man were trying to have another baby, I thought she was crazy. And I'm pretty sure I told her that.. more than once. But that was because my youngest and final child is 6yrs old and keeps me busier than rush hour traffic on a Friday.. before a holiday.

But I admired her determination and prayed for her during her struggles. Knowing that any baby that was wanted this much - was going to be loved beyond belief.

Once she discovered she was having a girl - I was super excited to make a quilt for her. Since I only have boys - I'm always ready to make something girly!

I used Woodland Bloom by Lila Tueller and the backing is super soft flannel from the same line. Moda really knows how to do flannel!

I also made a matching Brainy Baby Ball. It was fun to make and it's hard to put it down. It's soft.. and fits in your hand perfectly. I love this thing!! After it was done though.. I wished I had sewn some bells inside.

And even though Katherine and I no longer work together - and we live 1,800 miles apart, I've been able to keep up on Baby Josephine's milestones through pictures and updates. She's adorable and I hope she knows how much I enjoyed making this little gift for her! "